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If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
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Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
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An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
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Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
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I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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also just fyi if u get selected for verification STAY ON TOP OF IT!!! my roommate got selected and didn't complete everything in time and lost out on like $4000 for that semester!! they are SUPER strict about deadlines with that stuff
Yep this is so true! And some schools have earlier internal deadlines than what FAFSA says. My brothers verification took so long that he almost didn't get his money in time for spring semester. The whole verification thing is basically them saying "prove you're really this poor" which is annoying but you gotta do it
One more thing to consider: since you'll have a full Pell Grant, you might also be eligible for additional institutional aid from your school. Many colleges offer supplemental grants or scholarships to Pell-eligible students. When you speak with the financial aid office, specifically ask if there are any additional funding opportunities you qualify for with your negative SAI. Also, make sure to file the 2026-2027 FAFSA as soon as it becomes available (usually October 1, 2025) if you plan to continue your education beyond Spring 2026. Early filing often means access to more institutional funds.
I had no idea there might be additional aid available! I'll definitely ask about that when I call tomorrow. And thank you for the reminder about filing early for next year - I'm planning to get my associate's degree so I'll need to keep applying. I feel so much less stressed now having a clear plan of what to do next.
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my cousin was in a similar spot and ended up going to school in canada for animation. way cheaper even as an international student might be worth checking out
That's an interesting idea! I hadn't considered international options. Do you know which Canadian schools have good animation programs? I wonder if they offer any aid to US students.
One additional option to consider: has your daughter looked into BFA programs at public universities? While the most famous animation programs tend to be at private art schools, there are some excellent animation tracks at public universities that would be significantly more affordable. Schools like San Jose State, UT Austin, and University of Central Florida have animation programs with strong industry connections at a fraction of the private school cost.
We did apply to a couple public universities with animation programs, but she didn't get into the most competitive ones. The less selective public programs we looked at didn't have the same quality of instruction or industry connections according to our research. But maybe we need to cast a wider net and look beyond the most obvious choices. Thank you for this suggestion!
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pro tip: do it between 11pm-6am when the site isnt crashing every 5 min lol
I'll try that tonight! Hoping the system is less overloaded during off-hours.
I'm glad you're making progress! One additional thing to be aware of: if you're entering tax information manually rather than using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, make sure you're entering exactly what appears on your tax documents. Even small formatting differences (like including commas in numbers or leaving them out) can cause the system to reject your information. Also, for W-2 information, be sure you're entering the numbers from the correct boxes - the form isn't always intuitive about which information it's requesting.
That must be what's happening! I've been putting commas in the numbers. I'll remove those and try again. And I'll double-check the W-2 box numbers. Thank you so much for all your help!
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SAI isn't even that important tbh, it's just a number they use to calculate your actual awards. The schools financial aid office is who determines your ACTUAL aid package which is what really matters. My son's SAI was $13,500 but his actual EFC ended up being like $9,000 at the school he chose.
This is incorrect information. SAI (Student Aid Index) replaced EFC (Expected Family Contribution) starting with the 2024-2025 FAFSA. They're not different numbers - SAI is the new term for what used to be called EFC. And many private scholarships require the SAI number directly from the SAR for their applications, which is what the original poster needs.
oh my bad i thought they were different things. we did both fafsa and css profile so maybe thats why we had different numbers
Once you find your SAI on the SAR, make sure to screenshot or save it somewhere easily accessible. You'll need it multiple times throughout the financial aid process, and it's annoying to keep logging back in to find it again every time a scholarship application asks for it.
Good tip! I'll have my daughter take screenshots of everything important once we find it. Appreciate everyone's help with navigating this confusing process!
Keisha Williams
Financial aid advisor here. The "parent doesn't exist" error (PA-2345) is one of the most common issues with the new FAFSA system. I want to clarify a few important points: 1. This is a system matching error, not a reflection of your information being incorrect 2. Your school CAN'T fix this directly - it must be resolved with FSA 3. This will NOT affect your aid eligibility once resolved 4. While waiting for resolution, contact your school's financial aid office to document that you're actively working on the issue The fastest resolution is speaking directly with an FSA technical support agent who has the authority to perform a manual override. If you're struggling to get through on the phone, email FSA_FAFSA@ed.gov with "URGENT: Parent Verification Error PA-2345" in the subject line. Include your name, FSA ID (not password), and a brief description of the issue. Schools are aware of these system problems and most have processes in place to prevent these technical issues from affecting your aid packages, as long as you're actively trying to resolve them.
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Zainab Ahmed
•Thank you for this detailed information! I didn't know about the email option - that might be easier than trying to get through on the phone. Is there specific documentation I should gather before contacting them? And should my mom be available when I speak with them, or can I handle it myself?
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Keisha Williams
•You should have your FSA ID ready, and it's helpful to have a copy of your mom's social security card and a recent tax return nearby for reference. Your mom doesn't need to be present for the call, but having her available could speed things up if they need to verify additional information. For security reasons, they won't discuss her specific information with you unless she provides verbal authorization during the call or has completed the parent authorization form on studentaid.gov.
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Zainab Ahmed
Update: I finally got through to FSA technical support this morning using the menu options that @FinAidHelper suggested! The agent confirmed it was an issue with my mom's hyphenated last name - apparently there was a space after the hyphen in the IRS database but not in the Social Security database. They did a manual override and told me it should be resolved within 48 hours. Thanks everyone for your help! I'll update again when I can confirm it's fixed.
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Oliver Fischer
•Great news! Glad you got it resolved. The 48-hour timeframe is usually accurate in my experience, though sometimes it happens faster. Make sure to check your application status in the morning as the system updates overnight.
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Connor Byrne
•congrats!!! how long were u on hold?
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